Ice & Firelight
by spooky-knight
Summary: "Sookie knew what this was. It came from a place of utter desperation" Telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse is out of money and options. Vampire sheriff Eric Northman is out of time. He needs a fae-born woman to give him a true heir - to fulfill a thousand year old promise... before it's too late. AU
1. Firelight

AN: Please check your suspension of disbelief here. For the purposes of this story, our southern vamps can conceive a child with a fae-blooded human, resulting in a half-vampire or dhampir.

Heavily inspired by the movie Firelight, hence the title, and by SilverShine's awesome story in the Naruto-verse, Scarlet Scroll, which deals with a similar subject but under very different circumstances. Neither of which I own or have any rights to, nor to True Blood or the Southern Vampire Mysteries. I'm just borrowing the genius ideas of others for a little while in the playground called fandom.

A bit of background: Sookie has never met Eric. Without his influence, the events of seasons one and two are longer, more drawn out, and inevitably more painful for Sookie (as if they could be more painful than they already are). She learns of Bill's betrayal on her own, and our story begins as she starts to process the consequences of her relationship with him… and everything that's happened to her as a result.

Rated M for language and future adult themes and content. It's Eric, after all.

* * *

_Do you know about Firelight? It's a kind of magic. Firelight makes time stand still. When you put out the lamps and sit in the firelight's glow there aren't any rules any more._

* * *

Blasting the Queen of Louisiana with white light was a hell of a way to learn Sookie wasn't entirely human. But that exactly is how Sookie found out she was a fairy. '_A_ _fairy_. _How fucking lame is that?'_ she had thought. After all she had been through, Sookie wanted nothing more than to be human – a plain, normal, boring old human – but if she _had _to be something more than human, she wished she could have at least been something more dangerous.

In the past year, a storm of supernatural catastrophes had racked her quiet town of Bon Temps. She had lost her parents years ago, now she had lost Gran, and even her cat. Her only brother Jason, her best friend Tara, and even Sam, her boss, were slowly drifting away.

It started with a murderer who targeted suspected fang-bangers. Then, the strange maenad creature almost took the lives of the whole town. If it wasn't for the flash of momentary brilliance by her on-again off-again boyfriend, Bill Compton, this place would be a ghost town. It was a genius plan that allowed them to kill the demonic creature, thanks to her _beloved_ vampire boyfriend.

That same vampire boyfriend who betrayed her, who had been sent to _procure_ her as a prisoner to his boss - a fact Sookie did not discover until it was almost too late.

Sookie was unlucky that the Queen caught them at Bill's house that night. In a human's home, Sophie-Anne and her guards would have required an invitation. At Bill's house, there was nothing stopping the Queen from grabbing her prize and her subject, and sporting them both back with her to New Orleans - so she did.

Actually, Sookie _was_ lucky… in the grand scheme of things. The cousin she thought was long lost had become, by some odd stroke of Fate, the Queen's favorite pet. Hadley was about as shocked to see Sookie as Sookie was to see her alive. Her cousin's strange attraction to Sophie-Anne was strong, but as it turns out, the Stackhouse blood was stronger. Thankfully, Hadley provided the necessary distraction for Bill to make his move against his own Queen, who in turn lashed out at Sookie.

Instinct took over in that frightening moment, and a power Sookie didn't know she had was unleashed all at once. In a brilliant flash of light from Sookie's hands, Queen Sophie-Anne was across the great day room, dazed and disoriented. Bill was ready, then - he scooped up Sookie before she could blink and they ran without looking back.

After narrowly escaping the Queen's opulent palace, Sookie had no patience for Bill's assurances that he would never let Sophie-Anne have her. He reminded her of his passive role in her capture and his very active role in her escape, but the real question on Sookie's mind was how his Queen knew _exactly_ where to find her.

Shooting some of her little white light in his direction loosened his lips.

First, he exposed the string of lies he had told her since they met in Merlotte's that fateful night. Finding out that the love she thought was genuine was in fact fabricated by blood and false pretenses was disturbing. Knowing he let the Rattray's beat her within an inch of her life _on purpose_ was unforgivable. She let his trespasses sink in one by one. They could never go back being lovers. She wondered if they had ever really been friends. Even so, the hurt from his deceit was brief – like ripping off a band-aid – a sharp, quick sting.

Then he started to reveal the truths about what she was and what exactly that meant to vampires. To them - to_ him_ - she was nothing more than a delicious snack, a supernatural sunscreen, and, apparently, a potential mother. The stab of these truths was painful and lasting. It stayed with her, not only because it called into doubt their entire relationship, but because it colored the way she saw herself, her family, and her entire past. Bill was only a temporary fixture, but knowing what she was, her true identity had been forever changed. She counted herself lucky Bill hadn't gotten her pregnant, further altering her life.

Bill told her just because they escaped this time didn't mean she was safe. Far from it; Sophie-Anne would redouble her efforts now that she had seen a display of Sookie's power. He offered her his protection, guiltily, almost as though it were some kind of penance. She refused outright, not wanting to be indebted to this man for whom she had once cared so deeply. He left her with a warning – to find protection with another vampire lest her identity as a fairy get out – and a wish for her safety and happiness. Sookie simply nodded, her face betraying no emotion, and in a flash of movement only a vampire could achieve, he was gone.

She had not heard from him since that night. At Merlotte's, with some disdain Jessica told her that he was punished for his failure to deliver her to his Queen. He was, as far as Jessica could tell, banished to Central America. The baby vampire was torn between the powerful bond with her maker and the sympathy she felt for Sookie, both as a woman and one of her few friends in the afterlife. Jessica chose to deal with this stress by avoiding the blond waitress as best she could in the small town, even though they worked at the same bar.

Sookie returned home and tried to settle back into her normal routine, but for at least a week she walked around in a fog. When she started to awaken from her daze, she found that Bon Temps had moved on without her. Scarred and broken after Eggs' death, Tara had left town with barely a word. Maybe it was better that way. In her heart, she knew Tara still felt Sookie was responsible for Eggs' death. She rarely heard from her best friend beyond the occasional text message or postcard. Jason had become a cop - a _cop,_ Sookie was still coming to terms with this. Not only that, but he'd gotten over Amy and fallen in love "for real this time" with a girl named Crystal. These days he spent most of his time off-duty in Hot Shot, which, as it turns out, wasn't half as bad as its reputation made it out.

As for Sam, well, between running Merlotte's, finding his biological family, and dating a new shifter named Luna, Sam more than had his hands full. Even Lafayette had found a mate in Jesus, the dreamy nurse and _oh-by-the-way _brujo, some kind of Latin witch.

With Bill's betrayal still fresh in her mind, you would think she would be done with vampires. _With all Supes for that matter!_ But the combined disasters over the last year had left her physically exhausted and pretty much broke. She was so behind on payments that by the end of the month she'd lose the house. By the end of the week, Sam could change his mind - as he did so often recently - and she could lose her job. And if she didn't get protection, she would undoubtedly be hunted by the vampire Queen, who wanted nothing more than to put her in a cage, use her powers like a remote control, and worse things Sookie didn't want to think about.

Sookie was out of money and out of options.

Sookie knew what this was. It came from a place of utter desperation. A lease on her life and nothing more. A Faustian bargain to save what was left of her once-happy life.

She went over all these reasons again in her mind on the long drive to Shreveport, but it didn't make what she was about to do any easier. She was going to give her body to a stranger - a _vampire_ - and bear him a half-dead baby. Because only a child of the fae could do it, because the reward was enough to save her family home, and because maybe, just maybe, if she did this for him he would protect her and she could go on living.

Ever since vampires came out of the coffin, the night had been different. It wasn't just the time in between sunset and sunrise anymore. Now it was a time when forbidden things were permitted. When rules disappeared and the whispers in the shadows and bumps in the night came out to play. What happened at night stayed in the night. When the sun rose, vampires died for the day, and for humans, time started again.

Sookie had long since given up on the dream of being a mother. When she was serious about Bill, staying with him meant having a child was not an option - or so she thought. And well before she ever met a vampire, she had already decided that any relationship with a human guy was doomed from the start, thanks to her "gift." She had made her peace with a childless life. She guessed it was that detachment that allowed her to consider the contract in the first place. She wasn't using her oven anyway, so why not rent it out?

But then there was the obvious hang-up of how that _bun_ was going to _get_ into her _oven_. This was a fact Sookie preferred to overlook as though it was a minor detail.

After everything she'd been through, the questionable immorality of it all seemed worth it… to _live_. She'd suffered from her uncle's abuse as a child and given herself to her low-life two-timing vampire ex-boyfriend. What was left that was so _sacred_ about her body now? It was just nine months. Nine months and she could be free of it all - put vampires and fairies and maenads – all of the supernatural craziness – behind her. Forever.

* * *

The interview felt more like an interrogation. A female vampire, who introduced herself simply as "Pam", sat her down in the middle of the bar, which was a strange combination of gaudy florescent lights and dark corners. Empty of vampires, it was somehow blatant and unthreatening, like a Disneyland attraction. Pam herself was a bit of a contradiction, in fact, somehow still managing to look like a dominatrix even as she wore a pretty pink pencil skirt with a tailored little suit jacket and matching pumps. Sookie had never seen such a wolf in sheep's clothing before. She sat directly across from Sookie holding a clipboard and twirling a pen in her hand as though this moment was the most boring experience she'd ever been forced to endure.

Sookie had already provided the extensive documentation requested on her health records and background, as well as her reasons for needing the money. She wasn't sure if this face-to-face interview was just a formality or a cattle call to get a look at her haunches and teeth before choosing her as a breeding partner.

"How did you find out about this arrangement?" Pam asked, startling Sookie as her disinterested voice broke the awkward silence.

"From a girl who was a regular here. But," Sookie paused, trying to get past the sudden dryness in her throat, "she's dead now."

The vampire flashed a toothy smile and purred, "Good."

There was very little _good _about Amy's time in Bon Temps and nothing _good_ about her death. But Sookie wisely kept her mouth shut.

"You haven't done anything like this before, have you?"

"No!" Sookie replied emphatically. Did this kind of thing happen often? She couldn't imagine so.

"And what do you know about my employer?" Pam stared unblinking at the waitress intently for signs of deceit.

"Nothing," Sookie answered quickly, her voice slightly higher than usual. Pam looked skeptical. "Well, I know he's a vampire," Sookie offered, "And I know he's rich. And he wants a child for some reason."

Pam rolled her eyes, and her face resumed its bored-as-ever expressionless expression. "Well, you look healthy. And you're plush in all the right places."

"Um… thank you?" Sookie responded, allowing her Southern Manners to assist her in this awkward situation.

"And I assume since you're here you possess the… other qualification?" Pam raised an eyebrow and looked Sookie up and down as though she would like to lick her all over, or should it be bite? Probably both.

"Yes." Sookie said in a small voice, averting her eyes from the vampire's hungry gaze before straightening her spine and meeting Pam's eyes intently, "And that's part of my condition. I need protection."

"From whom, exactly?" It wasn't hard for Pam to imagine this girl would need protecting, given what she was. However, Pam wondered _who_ exactly knew she was a fairy.

"The Queen of Louisiana. She - " Sookie hedged, looking away again, "suspects that I am… what I am."

Pam wasn't quite sure whether she should be suspicious or impressed. How this little hick fairy got on Sophie-Anne's radar was beyond her. Taking her off would be risky, but was possible. Her maker was nothing if not resourceful. "Protection in the vampire world comes at a price. This may reduce your fee."

"I just need enough to keep my home," Sookie replied quietly. Her once proud, do-it-yourself demeanor had fallen away. If she could at least keep Gran's home, she felt she could muster the strength to stand on her own two feet again.

The vampire gave a veiled smile, as if she knew a juicy secret, "Don't you worry about your little house. That's not going anywhere." Sookie relaxed a fraction with a sigh and tried not to look too relieved.

Pam continued, "Given the changes to the nature of the agreement, my Master would be willing to offer you a contract for the protection you seek, whatever is required to keep your house from foreclosure, and $100,000 in exchange for your… services."

Sookie's eyes went wide. On her waitress's wages, it was hard to imagine that much money all at once. A ridiculous pile of one dollar bills popped into her head, or maybe a rain of fives, and Sookie was barely able to suppress a hysterical giggle.

Sookie stayed silent for a while, trying to process it all. When she came into the bar, a part of her thought she'd never get everything she wanted out of this bargain. That idea had given her a way out, an escape from the frightening decision she thought she had already made when she got into her car and drove to Fangtasia. Until now, that small part of her still had hoped that this was not really going to happen. But here she was. It was both horrifying and too good to be true.

"You will ask nothing about my employer and you will be given no information about his identity," Pam continued, "You will be available to him for three nights to complete the agreement. While under the contract you are to remain within contact of my Master at all times. When the contract is completed, the product will be turned over to my employer and all contact will be severed immediately. You will go back to your sad little life and you will not look for him or _it_."

The _product_. It all sounded more humane when you made it seem like it was an object and not a living thing. _Half-living_, Sookie reminded herself. A thing that probably shouldn't be. A little monster muffin that she had to bake and then give away. This was surrogacy, really. If all parties involved were human, this would be almost legal - with the addition of a laboratory and a team of adoption lawyers. But the law hadn't caught up to vampire children yet. Hell, most people probably thought this whole situation was impossible, she did until a few weeks ago.

Pam waited what she thought was long enough for the human to think it over (thirty seconds to her, but an eternity to Sookie) before asking, "Do we have a deal?"

The blond waitress from Bon Temps closed her eyes, and swallowed, breathing deeply as though it was her last moment on Earth. When she spoke it was barely a whisper, the last of her pride and dignity giving out against the irresistible offer to win back everything she was so close to losing, "Yes."

"Great," the vampire drawled indifferently. She flipped some papers around on the clipboard at a vampire's speed and handed it to Sookie with the pen, "Sign here, please."

Sookie stared at the contract, not really reading the small, typed print but just taking in her new, harsh reality before her in black-and-white. Somehow, she felt this moment would've been more dramatic, though she wasn't sure what she had expected exactly. A heated argument, a physical fight, herself breaking down into tears? She looked up at the woman - no, the _vampire_ - before her, who was now smiling tightly with her hands folded in her lap, demurely waiting. On the human's side of the bargain, she was signing her life away for a chance to live it. But for the vampires, this was all business. Just words and paper. With no ceremony or flourish, Sookie Stackhouse signed her name to the paper, and reality silently shifted.

Pam stood from her seat and took the clipboard. "It's done, _Miss Stackhouse,_" she clipped, drawing out Sookie's name like a curse. "The agreement is official."

"So… um." Sookie tried to swallow the lump that had suddenly grown into her throat. The easy part was over. Now it was time to pay the piper. "Do we get started now?"

Pam scoffed at the girl's naïvety, "It's nearly dawn, princess. Go home. And rest up." Her mouth twitched slightly at the corner in some semblance of a smile.

Sookie didn't like the suggestive tone in the vampire's voice when she said that last part. But she just nodded stiffly and made a beeline for the exit before Vampire Pam changed her mind.

* * *

"You found a candidate?" Eric asked inquisitively, his hands still clasped together tensely as Pam sauntered into the office. He didn't look up, even as she stopped in front of his desk.

"Yes." She dropped the clipboard heavily on the desk in front of him, allowing herself this small measure of defiance.

"How does she measure up?" He wanted to know, and looked up to meet her eyes for the first time. He seemed genuinely _interested _in this girl, and Pam couldn't help that her jealous feathers were ruffled.

Pam smirked, "I'd hit that." Her assessment seemed to please her maker, but only slightly. His face still held the same firm lines as it had for the past month. Seeing this, she continued, "But I still don't understand why you want a disgusting little _thing_ like that."

"My reasons do not concern you," he muttered darkly, "Just make it happen."

Pam frowned, turning and leaving Eric alone to brood. She didn't like it. The secrets started when the name Russell Edgington started blowing on the wind. And now this ridiculous arrangement, paying a fairy to bear him an awful little half-human baby.

Pam could only hope he meant to eat it.

* * *

AN: No infringement intended, just a teaser into my wildly rabid imagination, if you please. Hopefully the upcoming season may inspire more.

Major, major shout-out to my amazing beta juniperjuniper2. More than a beta, they should be called co-writers and coconspirators. I couldn't have done it without you, and we're only on chapter one!

Thanks for stopping by.


	2. Bed of Shame

AN: Here we go again. Prepare for the angst machine in this installment, but it won't last forever, I promise. After all, what's the fun of riding if it's not a bit of a roller coaster? A journey of a thousand miles...

* * *

_Tied down to this bed of shame_

_You tried to move around the pain_

_But your soul is anchored _

* * *

Sookie got home from work long before sunset. Without her fellow employees and demanding customers to distract her, all she had to think about was tonight.

Presently, she was trying to busy herself with preparations, but she wasn't quite sure what to do to prepare. Should she pick out sexy underwear? She wondered if he would even care, this mysterious vampire.

Maybe she would like him.

Sookie doubted it. Other than her ex-lover, she had really never liked any vampire she'd met. But this one was different; he wanted a child. So she guessed on some… strange level he wanted a family.

A decidedly human wish. Then again, she didn't know anything about his motivations. For all she knew, he was growing his very own human sacrifice. She tried not to dwell on that disturbing thought very long.

At the very least, Sookie knew she needed a shower. Although given the tension in her body, a bath seemed the better option. Sookie turned on the bath water and as she undressed, she went through a mental checklist. When was the last time she shaved her legs? Frowning, she scoffed at her own unfounded desire to please this total stranger. This wasn't love, or even a casual hook-up. This was contractual anonymous sex with a vampire. Bought and paid for. _Ugh_, it sounded even worse when she put it like that, even in her head. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad.

Maybe she would like him.

Only wouldn't that be worse?

He would be imposing, she told herself. He was a vampire after all. And he would be attractive, she would bet on that. But he was rich, so he would also be a smug bastard. And she wouldn't _like_ that.

Sookie sighed as she cut off the water and sunk into a warm bath. She hummed happily as the heat sunk into her tired muscles. For a little while, her worries disappeared into the steamy bathroom. It was so important.

This house, her _home_, was the one thing holding her life together. It was a sanctuary that belonged only to her, where she could hide from the world in the warm glow of a hot bath whenever she wanted. And right now she definitely wanted. She stayed in the tub until the water started to turn cold and her fingers were threatening to turn pruney.

After her bath, Sookie sped up her routine. She'd spent enough time agonizing over how this was going to be. Now it was time to get it over with.

Wrapped in a towel and a fuzzy blue bathrobe, she set about to pick an outfit. Shuffling through her small collection of sundresses, her hands lingered over a lavender outfit that had been one of Bill's favorites. Shaking her head, she cursed her wardrobe for reminding her of unpleasant feelings. Each piece of clothing she inspected could be tied to a memory of him and she made a mental note to use a little bit of the money from this bargain to replace her clothing.

Sookie skipped past her usual attire to the back of the closet and yanked out a racy red number she and Tara had picked out on a particularly daring shopping trip. A dress that hugged her curves a little too tightly, of which her ex would never approve.

Sookie grabbed some random underthings and laid her whole outfit on the bed. She shrugged out of the bathrobe and absently threw it behind her. She was puzzled when she didn't hear it fall to the floor and turned. What she saw made her gasp and her eyes bug out all at once.

There was a handsome, impossibly tall blond vampire, who she could only assume was her business partner, casually standing in her bedroom like he owned the damn place. He was dressed - appropriately - in all black and fisting her blue robe tenderly as though he were trying to soak up her body heat.

"What the hell?" Sookie exclaimed, trying to pull the towel up further to cover her cleavage.

"It's such a strange sensation," he began in a deep, intimate voice as his eyes roamed up and down her body, "when the reality matches what you've pictured in your mind so precisely."

"How are you in here?" Sookie asked, incredulous. "I haven't invited you!"

"You don't own the house." He reached into his pocket and dangled two familiar silver keys playfully, his lips twisting up in a satisfied smirk "I do."

Imposing: check. Attractive: check. Smug bastard: oh, hell yes.

"My house is not for sale," Sookie proclaimed stiffly.

She was struggling to stay on the higher ground while somehow still preserving her modesty. She raised her chin defiantly while hugging the suddenly-too-small towel closer to her skin.

"Actually, the bank foreclosed on the property this morning," the vampire explained calmly.

Eric tossed her robe aside, presenting the court documents, which _should_ have been served to the home's owner, from his back pocket.

"Normally, your house would be put on the market for 30 days, but we had an agreement and your signature on the contract combined with my bid was _very_ convincing to the proper authorities." He pocketed the documents again quickly. An action that made Sookie wonder about their legality.

"We agreed that you would pay me so I could keep the house," Sookie reminded him. "Not that _you_ would buy it."

Eric scoffed at the woman's foolish pride. "You would only have three days to make up your delinquent payments until the house was seized. This way I can come and go as I please while we… conduct our business, and you can't suddenly change your mind by rescinding an invitation."

"Why here?" Sookie asked cautiously, a little afraid of what the answer might be. "I was coming to you at the bar tonight."

"Fangtasia is a very public place. Here we can meet discreetly," Eric clarified. Then added mindfully, "I thought you would be more comfortable here, in a place you knew, rather than around strange humans and vampires."

"Oh," was all Sookie could think to respond. She never expected him to think about her comfort in their strange, sordid situation. Then again, the more she thought about it, she found it hard to believe his concern was genuine - though she guessed it would be dangerous to call him on it. Still, her Southern manners almost leaped ahead of her brain to thank him for his _apparent_ concern; a naïve impulse that was currently warring with the part of her that wanted to bite his head off for stealing Gran's house.

After a moment of thick awkward silence, Sookie decided to change the subject. "Can you please turn around so I can get dressed?"

"You won't be needing clothing tonight," Eric noted quietly, already letting his eyes travel the uncovered areas of her skin.

"I know," she said quickly. "But it would make me more _comfortable_. And seeing as how you're all worried about my comfort..."

Sookie saw him roll his eyes at her insistence on propriety in light of what they were about to do, but she was happy when he complied with her request. He turned his back to her without moving closer to her - or further way, she noticed grimly.

"Thank you," she said gratefully. Stepping out from under his scrutinizing gaze calmed her nerves for the first time since he had unexpectedly shown up at her house. This was not how she expected they would meet and definitely not how she expected this evening to pan out.

Sookie quickly turned to the bed and slipped the dress over her head, not bothering with underwear. It seemed irrelevant at this point. Still nervous, she felt one hundred times better wearing real clothing in front of him. She turned and was pleasantly surprised to find he still had his back to her. Despite herself, she smiled at the respectful gesture. Not knowing what else to say, she just told him, "Okay, I'm done."

He turned back to her slowly and purred appreciatively at her choice of attire. The heated look on his face made all the confidence she had gained by donning the dress fly out the window.

"What do I call you?" Sookie wondered suddenly. She knew there would be no proper introductions between them, but Southern manners flared up in her again and at least demanded a name, even if it was falsified.

"My, my. Already wondering what name you're going to be screaming very soon?" He advanced on her with a predatory gleam in his eye that said he was ready to get down to business. _Now. _

Sookie retreated toward the wall, trying vainly to cover more of her chest with her arms. "Don't talk nasty. This is just a business deal and you know that."

The vampire straightened to his full height and slowly wiped his face of its hungry expression. If she wanted to be prudish and take no desire from this then so be it. The end result would be the same regardless.

"Very well, Miss Stackhouse," he said, his voice cold and even. "You may call me Eric."

Sookie almost laughed. Bill, Eric, Pam - where were the old, romantic names from the storybooks: Armand, Jean-Claude, Alexander, Selene, Bianca, Claudia?

"Eric," she started experimentally, testing the name with her voice. "I think we need to set up some ground rules. First of all, no biting. Biting wasn't a part of the deal."

"Not all vampires play with their food," he stated cryptically.

Sookie blinked at him, her face going blank. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means sex and feeding do not _always_ go hand-in-hand. A better vampire can disassociate the two," he paused, adding, "If he must."

"That's good," Sookie said, both assuming and hoping he counted himself among the _better _vampires. "So we agree, then? No biting?"

Eric smiled ambiguously, "I promise not to bite you unless you ask me."

_Yeah, because _that_ was going to happen, _Sookie thought.

"Do you have any other stipulations?"

_No biting, No bloodletting, No permanent injuries, No bondage.__ Would it be too "Pretty Woman" to say no kissing? _Sookie was glad at this moment that vampires could not read her mind.

"No kinky stuff," Sookie said assertively. "This is just business."

"As you wish," he agreed impatiently, growing tired of her stalling. "Are you prepared now? Or do you have more trivial conditions?"

She frowned. Sookie's rules didn't seem trivial to _her_. But she supposed it was a human problem, worrying about feelings and regrets. "No, that's all. I'm ready now," she muttered dismally.

Sookie turned and shut off the light without seeking his opinion. Asking forgiveness was easier than asking permission. She lifted the dress over her head and dropped it unceremoniously on the floor. Eric growled in pure animal attraction and she was abruptly reminded that his sight was not obscured by the dark.

She stepped back hesitantly until her legs hit the bed. She then scooted up on the soft comforter and waited for him to disrobe. Instead, he closed in on her. Roaming hands reaching out and moving up her sides. She trembled, somewhere between aversion and admiration, as Eric's hands continued their journey over her hips and down between her legs. At the first brush against her most intimate place, she jumped away from him as though he'd burned her.

"You don't have to do that," Sookie clipped quickly, brushing his hand away. She didn't want to confuse this for something it wasn't. A soft caress, a lingering kiss - these were the things that would tempt her imagination to run wild.

Eric tightened his jaw and glared down at her with sharp icy eyes that dared her to challenge him. Before he could speak his mind, however, his attention was deflected and his eyes darted to the front of the house. "Someone is at your door," he informed her plainly.

She stared at him for a moment to see if this was some kind of distraction to get her to let her guard down. When she saw his concentration was still on the front door, she wiggled out from underneath him, scrambling across the bed. "I'll go see who it is," she told him. Then quickly added, "Don't come down."

Sookie snatched her fuzzy robe and threw it around her as she padded quickly down the hallway. Sure enough, Jason had already let himself in and was now calling her name from the living room.

"Jason!" she yelled, exasperated by her brother's bad timing. She finished pulling the sash around her waist into a tight bow and fixed her hands upon her hips. "Why are you here? It's the middle of the night!"

"I just got off my patrol," he answered, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to show up to her house unannounced at this hour. He was indeed still wearing his uniform. "Rosie said she heard some men was here at the house today. You in some kind of trouble?"

_Ladies and gentleman, the pride of the Bon Temps Police Department, following up a "lead" based on idle gossip. _Sookie reasoned it must have been the lawyers trying to deliver the court documents. She didn't want to go into this with Jason right now, not when a vampire was waiting in her bedroom.

"I'm not in any kind of trouble, Jason," she told him assuredly, and oh, how she wished that was true. "I wasn't even here. They were probably Jehovah's Witnesses or something. Is that all? 'Cause I'm kind of busy."

"Busy?" Jason asked skeptically. He eyed her robe and looked around the dark, empty house in an exaggerated fashion.

"It was a _long_ day at work," she reasoned, throwing in a yawn for good measure. "I was about to take a bath."

She secretly hoped her hair didn't show any signs of dampness from the bath she'd _already_ taken. If it did, either the darkness or Jason's general oblivious nature hid it, because he seemed to accept her words. _Bless his tiny little brain,_ Sookie thought, and didn't feel as badly as a sister probably should.

"Well, all right," Jason said with a newfound confidence that had surfaced since he donned the uniform. "But you know I'm the law now and I can't have my sister gettin' into any trouble."

"I know," Sookie agreed, and caught herself smiling. Chide as she might, she was glad her brother had found a purpose that seemed to make him happy.

He regarded her a little suspiciously as she watched him go, adding a tense, deliberate wave good-bye.

Convinced he was gone, Sookie trudged up the stairs slowly, preparing to face the music. The vampire she left hunched over on her bed was now standing next to it, waiting almost politely.

"I'm sorry, Eric," she blurted without thinking. She didn't think she was in the wrong, but the look he had given her before Jason's interruption made her feel she needed to smooth things over. Another time, another place, she might have fought him, stubbornly arguing her point of view and reminding him she was her own woman. But she had agreed to this. She signed her name to the contract, and tonight she was just so tired.

"It's been a long day," Sookie continued wearily. "I worked a double shift on only four hours of sleep last night. Can we just… "

"You want to postpone?" he assumed. She was feeling physically exhausted. That explained her irrational behavior.

"No," Sookie answered firmly. "Just - no more interruptions. Let's do this so I can go to sleep."

As a show of good faith that this was really happening tonight, she tossed her robe to the floor and laid down on the bed, planting her feet firmly on the mattress and spreading her knees just wide enough to give him access, but not in an open display of desire. Even in the darkness, she felt his eyes on her every move. She didn't look up as she heard the sounds of his undressing, or as he climbed above her on the bed.

The phrase "_lie back and think of England_" came to Sookie's mind, only this time it was "_just lie back and remember why you're doing this_." She steeled herself against the threat of pain, but Eric - as it turned out - was being surprisingly gentle. As he opened her legs further to accommodate his powerful frame, he stroked her thighs in just the right way, distracting her overactive mind and willing her body to just go-with-the-flow.

For Eric, this was all very strange, so unlike the overeager fang-bangers at the bar. Eric was not one to be refused. Most women threw themselves at him, pathetic and desperate for his attention. He was not used to being gentle with a woman. He hadn't the need for centuries, but he would meet the challenge for the sake of his goal.

Despite her earlier scolding, his skillful fingers danced along her thighs and fluttered around her stomach longer than was necessary. Just when she was about to scream at him to _justgetonwithit_, Eric gripped her hips and invaded the final boundary between them.

Sookie had made sure to avert her eyes from his naked form in an attempt at propriety. Which seemed so meaningless now that she could feel, if not see, every detail of his anatomy against her skin and inside of her. She winced at being stretched and filled. Not out of pain, but out of the impersonal act of taking in someone so unfamiliar.

She turned her head to the side, squeezing her eyes shut and holding her breath. She did not want to look at him, but was still afraid - despite his vow - that he would take advantage of her exposed neck now bared to him like an open invitation.

Eric was admittedly a bit disappointed in her refusal to participate, but for now he was content just to lower his head to her shoulder and nestle his face against her neck, inhaling her delicious scent - an intoxicating mixture of fairy, human, and some indefinable flavor that was uniquely Sookie.

The overpowering smell of a full-blooded fairy flooded the senses and was alarming in its ability to bewitch even the strongest vampire. A fairy's scent was thick and fiery, saccharine and dripping with sex. In earlier decades, when animation was new, Eric had caught glimpses of cartoon characters lifted into the air by a seductive cloud of aroma and floating uncontrollably toward an apple pie cooling on the windowsill. So it was for vampire and fairy.

Sookie's fragrance was different; subtly sweet and warm like sunshine beaming down on flowers. Her perfume was not smothering like her ancestors'; it was delicate and refined, as though she embodied the perfect mixture of both races. It was enough to push him further toward the edge despite her stony stillness.

Sookie tried to distance herself from what was happening, but her body betrayed her. There was no mistaking when Eric's practiced movements made her come undone. She bit down on her thumb and tried to stifle the sound of her cry.

There was no mistaking when the cracking of her apathetic facade was Eric's undoing. His looming body went rigid above her and he buried his head against her neck, muttering quietly in a foreign language that seemed ancient and far away. Thankfully he didn't bite.

Sookie blinked and tears pricked at the corner of her eyes. She was not a complicated girl. To her, sex and love just went together. And try as she might to separate the two concepts in her mind, it just seemed wrong to have the first without the latter. She did not love this man - she didn't even _know_ him.

Eric stayed immobile above her and for a few agonizing moments she was afraid she might actually have to ask him to leave. Sookie was relieved when he withdrew from her and silently dressed in the darkness.

"I will come again tomorrow," he told her firmly.

Sookie covered her face with her hands. What a poor choice of words. He made no move to leave without her understanding, so she nodded her agreement through threaded fingers.

Eric was nearly silent as he left so she could never really be sure he was gone. She counted the seconds alone in the darkness of her bedroom, now forever tainted with the memory of their act. Overcome by exhaustion, Sookie fell asleep before she could cry.

* * *

AN: A big shout out to Sweet Sookie who stepped in to beta this chapter and helped me turn it around on a dime for your enjoyment, I hope. Thanks!

Thanks for stopping by and see you here again for Night #2...


	3. A Lie Upon Your Lips

AN: **Edited Chapter** 7/21/12 - After reviewing the posted chapter, much rumination, and seeing you the readers picking up on some unintended consequences, this chapter has now been edited. When I first started crafting this installment, Yvetta's little cameo was more removed from the rest of the plot, but as the chapter began to come together those scenes just started flowing together. As strange as it may sound, I was kind of oblivious to the implications that were damaging to the overall theme of the story. The muse felt a re-write was in order to preserve the integrity of the plot line and tone of the story. Live n' learn.

But you don't really care about the technical stuff do you? Let's just get back to the story...

In this chapter, everybody makes a scene. If last night everyone was sad, tonight everyone is angry. Enjoy the indignant outbursts and righteous fury!

* * *

_The only comfort is the moving of the river_

_You enter into me, a lie upon your lips _

* * *

Eric had been back at Fangtasia half an hour and already nearly every chair, table and barstool had been tossed, overturned or broken. As entertaining as his snarling, destructive outburst was to watch, Pam was disturbed to see her maker in such distress after his first meeting with the young woman who was contracted to bear his child.

If only a few hours of Sookie Stackhouse put Eric in this kind of mood, she wondered what the next few days would bring; never mind the next nine months. Pam waited out his tantrum safely behind the bar, watching attentively as Eric took out all his frustrations on the innocent furniture.

Ginger heedlessly entered the room with a case of beer, prepared to stock the cooler, only to flee back the way she came, screaming her bleached little head off all the way.

The room was sufficiently trashed and Eric was running out of inanimate objects to destroy. He moved on to the bottles, grabbing each one from the shelf and smashing it against the wall at full speed. A flash of color crossed the room - brown, green, blue and yellow - only to shatter against the opposite wall like trickling liquid fireworks.

Matching his speed, Pam raced in front of him to stand in the way of the projectiles, catching a Rémy Martin VSOP and a Lagavulin 16 Year in each hand.

"Those are expensive," Pam drawled flatly.

Eric stopped and stood tall amidst the wreckage: muscles taut, ready to snap at any moment and cold eyes glaring angrily at nothing in particular. Pam's interruption seemed to snap him out of his frenzy, but only just.

"Was the girl not to your liking?" Pam asked curiously, setting the bottles down on the bar. Innocent with a stubborn streak was not his usual type, but it wasn't like he had to entertain the girl.

"She _refused_ me," Eric growled irritably. He looked at her pointedly, "_Me._"

"Did the little prude get shy on you?" Pam guessed, trying not to sound amused.

"She just _laid_ there like a fucking doll," Eric raged, skulking toward the bar. "Like some ignorant cretin was humping her for his own pleasure. She said she didn't _want_ to be touched. It was _unnecessary._" He looked at Pam for the first time since he returned. "_Thousands_ of women, Pamela. _Hundreds of thousands_ have begged me for a night in their beds. And this backwater waitress refuses me."

_Ah, _Pam realized. So the fairy had gone right for the soft spot: _the ego. _

Eric slumped against the bar, clearly pouting. Pam delicately righted a stool to sit next to him. "It's her loss, Eric," she reasoned carefully. "You only need to fuck her. She doesn't need to like it."

But that was just the problem, wasn't it? Eric found that he _wanted_ her to like it. The very nerve she had to reject him was the same thing that endeared her to him. Instead of cowering in his presence, Sookie showed bravery. Where other women would have wantonly offered their bodies to him, she demurely let him have his way while she hid her true pleasure under a mask of indifference.

Without realizing it, Eric had become far too concerned with what this woman thought - of him and his skills. He was a Viking, a living relic of strength and warrior's pride. He had no need for validation. However, it _irked_ him that this girl, Sookie, couldn't even try to enjoy herself.

Eric certainly didn't need Pam to hear all this inner debate. If his progeny learned how preoccupied he had become over Sookie he'd never hear the end of it. "I am aware her pleasure isn't necessary," he muttered absently. "But her anxiety is distracting."

And with that, Pam began to suspect it was his own pleasure he was concerned with. A passive partner would certainly result in a passionless tryst. There was no fun in that.

"Then call it off," she reasoned quietly, dropping from the bar stool to stand before him. "There are plenty of things you do enjoy that are right here."

"I will not," he rumbled warningly.

"Why?" Pam questioned desperately. She didn't understand his reasoning at all. It was as though a stranger had replaced her maker. "Why do you want this so badly?"

"I have told you not to meddle in this," Eric barked in his booming maker-knows-best voice. "You will not distract me!"

"This _child_ obviously means something to you," Pam sobbed, red tears rimming her eyes and threatening to spill over darkened lashes. "Yet you tell me nothing. Am I not enough for you? Have I failed you?"

Eric softened his expression and moved forward to take his progeny into his arms. He would never consider Pam replaceable, so he was surprised and saddened that she had reached that conclusion. After all this time, what had he done to make her think she meant so little to him?

"No. Pam, this has nothing to do with you or anything you have done," Eric told her gently, slipping his hand into her hair and bringing her head against his chest in an effort to calm her. "You are my child as I was the child of Godric. You were born into greatness. You are my progeny and my legacy. Whatever happens - " he hedged, afraid to say too much. "Nothing will change that."

"Then why?" Pam whispered hopelessly.

He placed a kiss to her forehead and pulled back, his face resuming a stern expression. "Your lack of sentiment has always been one of your most admirable qualities, Pamela. You know I love you more when you are cold and heartless."

"Hey y'all?" Ginger squeaked cautiously from across the room, obliviously interrupting the tender maker-progeny moment. "It's almost dawn, in'it?"

Pam rolled her eyes at the mentally scarred waitress. _As if_ vampires needed to be reminded of the approaching sunrise. "You're right, Ginger dear, it's time for my beauty rest." The younger vampire stepped away from Eric and plastered on her fake business smile. "You can go ahead and make sure all this is cleaned up before we open tomorrow night."

"All this?" Ginger asked dumbly, surveying the damage with despair.

"That a problem?" Pam deadpanned. She crossed her arms across her chest and fixed Ginger with a disapproving stare.

"No, no," the waitress assured her with a panicked look in her eyes.

"Good," Pam resolved with a harsh nod. She chanced a quick glance back at her maker before turning on her heel and leaving the room.

Eric smiled at Pam's innate ability to snap back into the emotionless bitch with such ease. He really did admire the side of his progeny that was detached and unsympathetic. She was strong. She would weather this storm with all the grace of a palm tree bending to the wind. It made him believe that he could too.

* * *

He didn't come. Sookie took off from work early to mentally prepare herself for round two of awkward, humiliating vampire insemination. She turned down the invitation to try Jesus' cooking - which according to Lafayette was in "a whole 'nutha world" and possibly even better than his. She even made a point to call her brother and catch up, insuring Jason wouldn't "drop by" again.

Sookie upheld her end of the deal She was nervously waiting at the kitchen table for the inevitable knock on her door that she'd been anticipating for the past three and a half hours since sunset. She would have probably fallen asleep if she hadn't been so jittery. But all those uneasy feelings turned to anger when Eric didn't show his face.

And what was she supposed to do? Patiently wait her life away until this vampire moved her up the priority list? Forget that! She owed three days and nine months to this bargain and not an hour more. The whole appeal of this contract was its brevity. People signed their remaining days away to marriage, unfulfilling careers, insurance fraud and all kinds of things to make ends meet. Eric's needs wouldn't last the rest of Sookie's life and she intended to keep that time as brief as possible.

Sookie piled herself in the car and made the drive to Shreveport. There was still time before sunrise. And even if there wasn't, she was going to make sure he knew these three nights were not going to drag on forever.

A woman on a mission, Sookie didn't stop moving from the moment she left her house. When the car was parked, she was out the door and in Fangtasia seeking out the one person who would know without a doubt where to find Eric.

When Sookie found Pam, the vampire looked surprised to see her. Surprised _speechless_, which seemed like a rarity for Pam. Sookie decided to take advantage of the confusion and jump right to her purpose.

"Where's Eric?" Sookie asked tensely, trying to reign in the unmistakable edge of impatience in her voice.

"He's -" Pam looked up at the ceiling, taking her time to decide on the right word. "_indisposed_."

Sookie rolled her eyes. Given how little she knew about Pam and Eric, she was pretty sure "_indisposed_" really meant "_avoiding you until I decide to grace you with my presence on a whim._" Sookie didn't have time for that. She stormed past Pam on a personal warpath and began the hunt.

Sookie opened each door one-by-one, peeking in and judging the correctness by Pam's reaction. Door number one was just a stock room, in which a vampire and a human were going at it like deranged animals. Sookie promptly slammed the door on the graphic scene, a red-hot blush rising to her cheeks. Pam grinned smugly at Sookie's flustered reaction.

Door number two was just a dark staircase leading down to a dank, empty basement, but obviously held something private because Pam quickly shut the door. To Sookie, it seemed like a twisted game of "hot-and-cold." Sookie was getting _warmer_ and _warmer_ as she moved away from the crowded bar area and down through the service hallway.

Door number three was the winner. Pam didn't try to stop Sookie, but she did huff and pout, making as much of a fuss as Sookie imagined Pam ever did. The door opened to the bar's office where Eric sat at his desk, doing some crucial task that was obviously more important than fulfilling his contract with Sookie.

"Sookie, stop. Don't. Come back," Pam droned idly.

Pam didn't bother putting any power behind the words, nor did she make any effort to physically restrain the girl _already_ standing in the office. Sookie looked back at the vampire over her shoulder and stared in disbelief at Pam's lame attempt to discourage the blond waitress.

"I take it Sookie couldn't be stopped?" Eric asked Pam, somewhere between annoyed and amused. He didn't seem surprised at Pam's antics in the least.

"What can I say? She overpowered me," Pam drawled indifferently.

"Off you go, Pam," Eric ordered lightly. Pam rolled her eyes heavenward but obeyed her maker's command, leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

"Sookie," Eric's voice rang out low and silky, filling the silent office. "Miss me?"

Sookie could hear the devious smirk in his voice. It was even worse to see it plastered on his face.

Eric certainly had not expected her to show up at his bar of her own free will. After suffering through her irritating lack of interest the night before, he was content to take a night off from having to interact with her. The familiar normalcy of Fangtasia was a welcome change. But her sudden appearance was an interesting development indeed.

Approaching the desk, Sookie caught the briefest glimpse of the files Eric was reading before he shuffled the loose papers briskly into a manila folder. She could've sworn she saw a photo of a golden Viking crown, an ancient relic of another time, but the image was gone before she could even dream of what it meant.

"You didn't show!" Sookie yelled plainly. Best to stick to the point and remember why she came here. "We had a deal."

Eric stood and approached her, closing the distance until he was in Sookie's personal space.

"Three nights," she reminded him, lifting her head to bore an angry stare into his eyes.

He regarded her casually, hands resting on his hips. "I didn't specify which three nights," he reasoned calmly.

"I'm _specifying_ now," Sookie retorted hotly, throwing his words back at him. "Yesterday was one of those nights. Tonight is one of those nights. And tomorrow is the third. And then that's it."

"Are you so eager?" Eric asked, amused. "You can't even wait until tomorrow night to lay with me?"

"Tonight," Sookie repeated, choosing to ignore his obvious dig. "And tomorrow."

"So be it," Eric whispered.

Then, in a flurry of movement only a vampire could achieve, Sookie's world turned upside down. She was thrown over his shoulder like a caveman's bride and that pissed her off. Before she could protest, however, the bar flashed by her like a bad 80's movie on fast forward and she was up above the ground in the night sky - wait, what?

"Eric!" Sookie screamed, scrambling to hold onto something as she dangled from his shoulders, facing the ground that was entirely too far below them.

Eric scooted her down off his shoulder, holding on to her hips and lowering her down until her feet rested on top of his. Sookie shrieked at the lack of barriers holding her and threw her arms around his neck, drawing closer to him. He smirked at the unconsciously intimate position and wondered if this was how it would be if she were more willing.

"You can fly," Sookie said dumbly. He didn't miss the surprised smile on her face or the way her blond hair played in the wind. She was quiet for a moment, awed and amazed to be flying in the air with him. She looked around her as best she could while still holding him tightly. As the initial shock began to wane, she remembered that he was basically abducting her and wondered why. "Where are you taking me?"

"You wanted to have me tonight," Eric told her smoothly. "And so you will."

The world below them moved faster as he propelled toward her little farmhouse in Bon Temps.

"Oh no - no!" Sookie protested, clinging to him desperately and throwing her legs around his hips for good measure. This vampire was the only thing between her and a nasty splat on the ground. She held on to him for her dear life. "I've survived drainers, fake Rene and I've killed a damn maenad. I am _not_ falling down and dying like this!"

"You killed a maenad?" Eric asked, surprised.

He looked impressed and Sookie squirmed a little under his appreciative gaze. She couldn't take all the credit. "My friends helped. We came up with a plan and trapped her." Since Sam was really the one who put his life on the line, Sookie felt comfortable crediting her friends as a whole instead of Bill.

"A maenad is a formidable creature," Eric admitted. "Was this before or after you gave the Queen her scare?"

She averted her eyes nervously, like a schoolgirl who had done something naughty. Of course he would have heard about that. Did _all_ vampires know each other? She was afraid she was in trouble, Eric recognized.

"Sophie-Anne is a spoiled brat - and half my age. I am not going to punish you," he assured her.

"That was after," she breathed. "The first of the "bad things" in Bon Temps was the serial killer…" and just like that the words kept spilling from her mouth. She realized – remotely, somewhere in her mind – given what they were about to do, even if they were fifty feet in the air right now, this was some sad form of pillow talk.

She barely knew this vampire and yet here she was, divulging her whole sad life story. She never had an ear like this before. An audience who just watched her and absorbed the words without disbelief. To whom else could she recount the whole tale without them thinking she was crazy?

Eric listened with interest, albeit possibly feigned. His subtle reactions and simple questions spurned her on, playing up the drama of her brushes with death and feeding on his fascination with her bravery. She may look like nothing more than an uneducated backwater barmaid, but as Sookie spun her story, laying each experience of the last two years out, one after the other, she started to feel like so much more.

"It sounds like you have a warrior's heart," Eric told her as the tale was winding down. She smiled bashfully, but brightly. A true smile of pure happiness, and he blatantly ignored the affect it had on his hollow chest.

Recounting her exploits had distracted her from the fear of flying and she hardly seemed to notice as Eric softly touched them down in the grass below the steps to her porch.

"Shall we go inside?" he asked her evenly.

Sookie snapped back to attention and her defensive walls shot back up around her. Her face turned stony as she regarded her surroundings and nodded curtly. "Yes. Let's get this over with."

* * *

"Are we doing this?" Sookie asked in an exasperated voice. Eric had followed her up to the bedroom, watching silently as she undressed in the darkness and plopped herself on the bed. Somewhere in the past few minutes he had lost his pants, but otherwise just stood there. Sookie wondered what was the hold up?

"I was waiting for you to be ready," he told her honestly.

"I'm ready," she deadpanned.

"You don't have to torture yourself," he said earnestly. "This is the fun part."

Sookie couldn't contain her reaction. She snorted and chuckled humorlessly.

"It would be fun for you too," he reminded her, "if you stop fighting me."

"I have my reasons for acting like I do," Sookie explained. "Humans – and – half-humans too," she corrected haltingly, "we have feelings. It's not so easy for us to just shut 'em off like you do. Do you want me to 'conduct business' and move on or do you want me to 'have fun' and become a clingy half-fairy woman?"

"That would defy our arrangement," he growled.

Fairies were known to have telepathic abilities. That Sookie _knew_ the effect she was starting to have on him was Eric's secret fear. It was a folly to think she could sense such things, but fairies were secretive creatures and one could never know their true abilities until they were revealed. He promised himself not to show any outward signs of his unnatural interest in her.

"Exactly," Sookie sighed, hoping he finally understood. "So please let me do what I have to do."

Eric crawled onto the bed above her, curling his lofty frame around her as he had the night before. He lowered his mouth to her ear and Sookie shivered as his hair tickled her cheeks. "Then you must let me do what I have to do," he whispered roughly.

Sookie swallowed, _hard_. "What's that?" she asked shakily and immediately regretted opening the door with that question. She willed him to remember the ground rules. She willed _herself_ to remember the ground rules. His body was barely touching her but he was so close. She could feel his lips move against her skin as he spoke and somehow it was all so unnecessarily intimate.

"I have never taken a woman by force," Eric admitted slowly. "When you cringe and cry it makes me feel disturbingly cruel and repulsive."

"What do you want from me?" she sobbed emptily. "I told you why I act this way."

"Don't act at all," Eric ordered firmly. "I am not a friend with whom you will have to interact socially. There is no need to pretend or save face. After tomorrow night you will never see me again."

He seemed so sure of that fact and Sookie did not know if it was comforting or distressing. Fate had a way of arranging absurd coincidences in this world. How could Eric guarantee she would never meet him again? Would he move far away or deliberately try to avoid her? The thought of a vampire running from a mortal was almost laughable.

"I'll try," Sookie breathed softly. A concession - to get him to shut up and to make him just get on with it.

It must have been enough to satisfy his request because he moved against her then. His hands caressed her sides, around her hips and under her thighs. True to her word, Sookie did not try to stop him this time. She let Eric prepare her for him in the oldest dance, allowing her body to react but chewing her bottom lip to silence any auditory encouragement.

His hand moved between her legs as his lips found her throat and she was done in. All the air left her lungs in a breathy gasp despite herself. Eric smiled inwardly in triumph. A few well-placed touches were all he needed to break her resolve.

Keeping with the rhythm, not wanting to break this electricity built up between them, Eric entered her swiftly, soothing the intrusion with deft fingers and soft, cool lips against her heated skin. Sookie kept her voice quiet but her rapid heartbeat and ragged breathing did not escape Eric's notice.

Her mind and body battled for control. As Eric sped up his movements against her, she opened her thighs to accept him but stilled her hips so they did not rise to meet him. She allowed him to envelope her in his long arms but did not let herself arch against him. She caught herself reaching up to comb his fingers through his hair and retracted it suddenly, plastering her hands against the bed.

Sookie bared her throat to him just as she had the night before, squeezing her eyes shut even as her mouth hung open in a silent cry. Eric buried his head deeply against her neck, tasting her skin with each flick of his tongue as he inhaled the sweet scent of Sookie. She flinched almost imperceptibly as he scraped blunt teeth against her pulse. It was a momentary alarm that faded quickly as new feelings took over. She trusted him not to bite, Eric realized.

The combined sensations built higher and tighter inside Sookie before she spun out of control. As she spiraled up on the golden wave she reminded herself where she was and whom she was with - but none of it mattered when she crashed down. Her arms latched onto Eric's shoulders and she threw her head back with a melodious cry. It was beautiful to Eric's ears. It rang of victory.

He thrust into her with renewed purpose, in harmony with her own pleasure. He did bite her when he crashed down after her, not with fangs but with dulled teeth. His lips sucking at the skin of her neck as he claimed her inside and out. _Mine_. The primal desire came from deep within and he banished it away instantly. She was not his nor did he want her to be. She was only a means to an end.

Eric slumped lazily against Sookie and she was in no state to rush him away. She relaxed her muscles into the comforter and fought to catch her breath. She tried not to think too much about what she felt or what it meant. He had asked her to let her body have its way and she did. That was all.

He sluggishly pulled away from her in silence and she heard a rustling that she assumed was Eric dressing.

"My car!" Sookie realized suddenly and bolted upright. It was still in Shreveport. Belatedly, she realized her nudity and grabbed a pillow to cover herself. Propriety was propriety after all.

"It will be in your driveway tomorrow morning," Eric rasped, his voice low and gravelly. Sookie nodded, imagining an army of minions just waiting for Eric's orders. It wasn't her place to think of the how. She was just glad to be getting it back.

"I'll see you tomorrow night?" She asked hesitantly. Sookie hoped her point was made by showing up at the bar tonight but Eric seemed the type to change his tune at the drop of a hat.

"Yes," he answered absently, as though his mind was really miles away. "I will come to you. For the last time."

* * *

AN: A very grateful shout-out to beta Sweet Sookie for helping me with this chapter every step of the way. You are awesome! You know who else is awesome? Everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed this story. Wow, what a welcome. Thanks to you all! And thanks for bearing with me! This edit feels so much better. I hope you don't disagree.

Thanks for stopping by! See you back here for night #3… the last time?


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